Manufacturer: BBC Home Entertainment
Brand: Warner Manufacturing
Civilization: The West and the Rest with Niall FergusonThe West once ruled more than half the world. The religion it exported, Christianity, is still followed by a third of mankind. Above all, the way people live - or aspire to live - is unmistakably an invention of the West. All over the world, more and more humans eat a Western diet, wear Western clothes and live in Western housing. But are we living through the beginning of the end of the West's ascendancy? In this remarkable series, Niall Ferguson explains how by juxtaposing the West and 'the Rest', we can uncover the keys - the six killer applications - of Western ascendancy: the real explanation of how, for roughly five centuries, a clear minority of mankind managed to secure the lion's share of the Earth´s resources.]]> Historian Niall Ferguson, with his warm Scottish burr and firm gaze, has a general theory of Western civilization and how it came to dominate the world over the past 500 years: Six "killer applications"--i.e., ideas and socioeconomic mechanisms--such as competition, science, and democracy. He illustrates his points with vivid comparisons (between the British colonization of North American and the Spanish colonization of South America, or between Europe and China in the 15th century, among others) and by spotlighting lesser-known historical figures that serve as fascinating examples, such as a castrated Chinese admiral who sailed huge ships from China to East Africa in the 1400s, or a German economist whose experiences at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904 led him to connect the Protestant work ethic with economic success. Add a sprinkling of visual panache (snappy editing, gorgeous landscapes, fascinating historical images), and the result is a hugely entertaining and stimulating six-episode series, Civilization: The West and the Rest. Ferguson's fervid pronouncements are debatable, but that's much of the series' pleasure. He's not playing it safe, trotting out received wisdom that everyone accepts. His volatile arguments make the events...
